Knifemaking: How to Get a Mirror Polish?

I’ve been having trouble getting a mirror finish on my blades, whether it be carbon or stainless. I can get them mostly polished, but it seems I always have sanding scratches after hand sanding that won’t buff out. I change direction with each grit sanding to 2,000 grit, and everything looks fine but when I finish buffing, the center always seems to be cloudy looking.

PatrickKnives:

Try to buff a couple of times early in the sanding, this will make the scratches not removed by the previous grit easier to see. If your last grit was 400 at a diagonal you would not expect to see any scratches parallel with the blade. You can also mix up your angle so you can determine the grit of the scratches. If I am getting clouds I clean my wheel and apply fresh compound and finish the buff with a lighter touch.

David F Pitt:

Isand my blades wearing a magnafocaser and floresent light.I change directions with each grit.I will finish at 800grit I polish with matchless white,green chromeK&G Green and finish with matchlees pink . You can check out my knives at http://bearpawcustoms.blademakers.com DAVE

I use 3 lights,so that I get a little light from different directions. It helps me see the scratches better. At first I will cover the blade with a black felt tip pen. Some times I do this twice,just to make sure that I got all the scratches at that grit. I use the felt tip on say 120 grt,then on 220 grt. It helps with the “big” scratches. I then go to the next grit say 320 & I sand in 2 different directions. Then I slowly move on to the next grits. Buffing will help as per PatrickKnives.I then do what David Pitt reccomends Buffing with white,K&G Green, then finish with noscratch pink.

Jeffery E. Wagner:

I would also recommend you finish with pink. It is available through, Jantz Supply.

About Ben Sobieck

Ben Sobieck is the online editor for BLADE and administrator of blademag.com. His top interests include outdoors knives, classy EDCs, current events issues and any blade with a great story behind it. Contact him at ben.sobieck@fwmedia.com.